Alien: Rogue Incursion composer Sara Barone revealed that the upcoming game will use woodwind instruments to evoke a sense of terror. She shared this detail during a recent interview, which also saw her open up on the inspirations behind Alien: Rogue Incursion's soundtrack and many other topics.
Developed by Los Angeles-based Survios, Alien: Rogue Incursion is a virtual reality action horror game for the PlayStation VR2, Meta Quest 3, and Steam VR. It's scheduled for release on December 19 on PlayStation and Steam, with the Quest version to follow on February 13, 2025.
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In the lead-up to the game's debut, composer Sara Barone sat down for a comprehensive internal interview—which The Best War Games can exclusively share—discussing everything from the influences behind her soundtrack to the unique challenges of scoring a VR experience, along with some new details about Alien: Rogue Incursion.
Alien: Rogue Incursion Composer Sara Barone Talks Inspirations, Future of VR Gaming, and More
Q: Can you tell us about your background and how you became involved in composing music for video games? What drew you to work on Alien: Rogue Incursion?
A: I have always been a big fan of music for video games. I had the privilege of studying with the wonderful game composer Garry Schyman back in college at USC, who was very inspiring to me and helped set me up with my first job out of school, which was an internship at Santa Monica Studio. I was very grateful to have had the chance to work with the wonderful in-house music team there on various projects and really immersed myself in the world of audio in games.
Since then, I’ve written additional music on various games, but mainly have worked in the film and television spaces. When the opportunity to pitch for Alien: Rogue Incursion came along, I was beyond excited! I’ve been a massive fan of the Alien franchise since I was very young. So it has been absolutely a dream project. The fact that it’s VR and an original storyline was especially inspiring to me and I knew it would be an incredible music opportunity.
Q: When composing for Alien: Rogue Incursion, what were your key inspirations, and how did you capture the atmosphere of the Alien universe through music?
A: Something I love about the original scores which provided much inspiration to me was a focus on woodwinds at the heart of the music. In the original movies, woodwinds were often used to evoke a sense of space exploration and wonder. Since this story differs from the movies in that respect, I thought about how to use woodwinds in a new way that would suit this original storyline and setting.
I came to the idea of using warped woodwinds played in unconventional ways to create a sense of building dread, and more specifically, to create a “call” or “cry” motif for the Xenomorph. I worked closely with a woodwind player based in Greece, named John Bennett, who has a huge arsenal of instruments and plays them in very unconventional ways. We used flutes and bass flutes, as well as Saxophones, Moroccan Flutes, Armenian Duduks, among others. We recorded him playing them in various ways, such as singing through a flute while playing a multiphonic effect, which creates a very eerie siren or call sound. It sounds a bit like a woodwind, but also a bit like a voice, and has a rather inhuman quality.
Through this experimentation, I created a woodwind 2-note motif that we ended up calling “Call and Response” which functions as a Xenomorph call. It’s used as a motif in various ways throughout the game to signify Xenomorph presence nearby, as well as a sort of communication between Xenomophs. The first note is the call and the second is the response. Depending on the arrangement and processing of the sound, it signifies to the player varying levels of danger.
Q: How does composing music for a VR game differ from traditional games, and what challenges did you face in creating an immersive audio experience for players in a virtual world?
A: My experience working in VR has been very different from traditional games. From the beginning of my involvement with this project, my goal was to create a score that provides a one of a kind visceral and immersive experience for the player: a score that pushes the boundary of expectation to compliment Survios’s cutting-edge work. This game is unprecedented in its environment of unpredictable and immersive terror. As a result, I felt the score needed to be equally unpredictable, drawing from experimental orchestrations, visceral soundscapes, and working hand-in-hand with the sound design.
I believe that part of achieving a sense of immersion and raw terror in the virtual reality space means being very purposeful with music and also knowing when to pull back. In some of the most unnerving moments, the music becomes quite sparse, leaving space for the sound design to be at the forefront, before unleashing into a terrifying combat moment. A core part of the game is dynamic combat; that is, combat that can happen unexpectedly at any point.
As a result, I feel the music needs to create a feeling of unease and make the player question what is around the corner. The audio lead, Chris Dang, and I worked back and forth a lot to create a relationship between music and sound design that would cause the player to question what they are hearing: is it a Xenomorph lurking nearby or is it just a mechanical sound from the environment? The score features lots of experimental percussion sounds (scraped, bowed, hit with various tools) that are mixed in various ways spatially to challenge the player’s perception of threat.
The music needs to create a feeling of unease and make the player question what is around the corner.
Q: What was the collaboration process like with the rest of the development team at Survios? How did you ensure that the music complemented the other aspects of the game, such as gameplay and narrative?
A: I am very grateful to have had the chance to work closely with Chris, who was an incredible collaborator and guiding force to me throughout the process. He introduced me to the concept of generative scoring in game music, which was new to me, and which really helped to create a properly immersive and constantly evolving musical soundscape. In working this way, the music feels very much like it is evolving with the player and changing unexpectedly rather than looping in a traditional sense.
I was working with updated gameplay playouts throughout the process so as I was writing I was able to test how the music was working in each mission. I went into the studio many times to play the game in headset and experience how the music was functioning once implemented. This was incredibly helpful to experience as a player and then work on the music according to what I felt needed to be adjusted to enhance the immersion or storytelling. Working with the whole team as Survios has been such a pleasure- they inspired me every day we worked together and are such collaborative and creative people.
Q: Where do you see the future of music in VR gaming? Do you think there are unique opportunities for innovation in sound and composition as VR technology evolves?
A: I think the future of music in VR gaming is incredibly exciting with regard to advancing spatial audio techniques, adaptive music systems, as well as interactive score composition. The landscape of music in VR gaming is constantly evolving, and I am very excited to see where it goes!
Alien: Rogue Incursion is currently available for pre-order, starting at $39.99. Apart from the base game, Survios is also offering its $49.99 Deluxe Edition, which comes with a digital artbook, Blue Camo armor and weapon skins, and another pair of cosmetics inspired by Disney's 2024 blockbuster Alien: Romulus.
Alien: Rogue Incursion
- Released
- December 19, 2024
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Survios
- Publisher(s)
- Survios
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Franchise
- Alien
WHERE TO PLAY
Alien: Rogue Incursion is a brand-new single-player action-horror VR game that immerses players in the world of Alien. The game stars Zula Hendricks, an unbreakable ex-Colonial Marine, on a dangerous mission that brings her to the uncharted planet Purdan, and the secrets hiding beneath its surface.
With her sentient AI companion, Davis 01, Zula must fight her way to the heart of the infested Gemini Exoplanet Solutions research facility. There she will need to survive deadly attacks from the most cunning Xenomorphs ever encountered and discover new horrors and threats that once unleashed could spell the end for humankind.
- Platform(s)
- PSVR 2, Steam, Meta Quest
- Genre(s)
- Action, Horror, Virtual Reality
